Where’s the Beef? Inside the Fragile Cattle Market episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 17, 2026 · 14 MIN

Where’s the Beef? Inside the Fragile Cattle Market

from Big Take · host Bloomberg and iHeartPodcasts

Inflation in the US has cooled from pandemic peaks, but there’s a grocery product telling a different story: beef. The price of uncooked ground beef soared by the most since June 2020 in government data released Friday. The broad beef and veal category is up 15% over the past year as of January. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Enda Curran  takes a peek into the American consumer’s grocery basket with host David Gura to understand the perfect storm of factors that’s setting beef apart. And a fifth-generation Oklahoma rancher reflects on the impact that a fragile market has had on her family business. Read more: America’s Vanishing Cattle Herd Drives 15% Price Hikes for Beef US Cattle Herd Stays at 75-Year Low, Keeping Beef Prices High A Deadly Parasite’s Return Threatens US Ranchers Too Young to Remember It Hosted by David Gura; Produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky and David Fox; Reported by Enda Curran, Ilena Peng; Edited by Aaron Edwards; Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate and David Fox; Engineering by Alex Sugiura; Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Feb 17, 2026

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Where’s the Beef? Inside the Fragile Cattle Market

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